Highly followed portfolio manager Cathie Wood is not having much fun right now. Her flagship fund, the Ark Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK) is down 23.4% year-to-date through Feb. 7. Like a lot of innovation-heavy exchange traded funds (ETFs), ARKK is getting cut to pieces early in 2022.
If you’re a believer in buying on the dip for stocks, doing so with ETFs makes even more sense because it takes a major disruptive force to move an entire portfolio of stocks down 23% in less than six weeks.
The whole point of buying ETFs is to reduce your downside while taking part in the upside. Eventually, I do believe ARKK will bounce back, but it might be too late if Wood loses her institutional following.
I guess we’ll see.
In the meantime, I thought I’d put together a list of ETFs that are down in 2022, but definitely not out. For example, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) has a total return year-to-date (YTD) of -4.13%. That’s not great, but compared to ARKK, it’s a success story.
- SoFi Next 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SFYX)
- SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:SPYG)
- iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:ISCB)
- Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary ETF (NYSEARCA:RCD)
- SPDR Kensho Clean Power ETF (NYSEARCA:CNRG)
- SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETF (NYSEARCA:RWO)
- iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (BATS:EFG)
- Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF (NYSEARCA:RYH)
- iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (NYSEARCA:IDRV)
- ProShares Pet Care ETF (BATS:PAWZ)
Here are my 10 ETFs to buy during the current market correction. They’re all down around 5%.
ETFs to Buy: SoFi Next 500 ETF (SFYX)
This ETF tracks the performance of the Solactive SoFi US Next 500 Growth Index, a collection of 500 U.S.-based mid-cap companies. It’s got a total return YTD of 8.3% through Feb. 8.
SFYX got its start in April 2019. While it hasn’t gathered a lot of assets — $47.9 million — it has an interesting wrinkle in that it is fee-free. The ETF waives the gross expense ratio of 0.19%. So, even if it drops the fee waiver in the future, its fees are still reasonably cheap.
The index excludes the 500 largest stocks by market capitalization of the Solactive US Broad Market Index, which consists of approximately 3,000 of the largest U.S. companies. From the remaining 2,500 companies, it takes the next 500 largest constituents.
After weighing the 500 stocks based on their free-float market cap, it then adjusts the weightings up or down based on each company’s composite score for trailing 12-month (TTM) sales growth, TTM earnings per share growth, and the future 12-month earnings per share (EPS) estimate.
The index is reconstituted and rebalanced annually. The top 10 holdings account for 9% of the ETFs $46.6 million in total assets.
SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF (SPYG)
Not only is SPYG a large fund with $14.1 billion in total assets. It’s also inexpensive to own charging 40 cents per $1,000 invested. This ETF is considered one of iShares’ building blocks for a core portfolio.
The stocks in the fund, as the name suggests, are those S&P 500 companies that exhibit strong growth in sales and earnings. Momentum stocks have gotten hit quite hard in 2022. These are out-of-favor stocks at the moment. As a result, SPYG has a total return of 8.18% so far in 2022.
The ETF’s 239 holdings have a weighted average market cap of $1.08 billion, 3-5-year EPS growth of 16.9%, and a price-to-book ratio of 8.7x.
SPYG’s top three holdings are Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). The three companies account for 33% of the ETF’s total assets. Its top three sectors are technology (44.30%), consumer discretionary (16.79%), and communication services (12.31%).
It’s got an annualized five-year total return of 20.74%.
ETFs to Buy: iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF (ISCB)
One of my favorite investment bloggers is Ben Carlson and his blog, A Wealth of Common Sense. Every January, he updates his periodic table showing the annual returns of various asset classes.
Despite not placing in the top three positions for five consecutive years, small-cap stocks have the second-best 10-year annual return of 14.40% through Dec. 31, 2021. Over the long haul, small caps are an excellent asset for a smaller, more aggressive portion of your portfolio.
The iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF tracks the performance of the Morningstar US Small-Cap Extended Index, a collection of smaller U.S. companies that have exhibited both growth and value.
The ETF has a smaller asset face relative to the rest of the iShares family of funds but that shouldn’t scare you away. Its $223 million in total assets is plenty.
The fund currently has 2,002 holdings so we’re not talking about a focused fund but one that spreads its risk amongst a lot of smaller companies. However, most investors will have heard of many of its top 10 holdings.
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary ETF (RCD)
RCD takes the 60-odd consumer discretionary stocks from the S&P 500 and weights them equally. So, each stock starts out a quarter weighted at 1.67%. At the end of each quarter, the positions are rebalanced back to their equal weighting.
How’s RCD done compared to a market-cap-weighted version? YTD, RCD has a total return of -5%. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLY) has a total return of -8%, around 300 basis points worse than the equal-weight version.
I think equal-weight ETFs make sense for a lot of investors because it doesn’t overdo your investment in any one stock. For example, the top holding in XLY is Amazon at 23.61%. In RCD, it’s a mere 1.71%.
While you give up some performance on the upside with Amazon, you also don’t lose as badly on the downside. It really depends on your risk tolerance.
As we sit here today, RCD’s three largest holdings are Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), Carnival (NYSE:CCL), and Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE). None of those makes the top 10 in XLY.
Something to think about.
ETFs to Buy: SPDR Kensho Clean Power ETF (CNRG)
The story in 2022 is energy stocks, but not those producing clean energy. This year, it’s all about oil and gas and the $100 barrel. That’s why CNRG is down 10% YTD. The rose has come off the clean energy bloom.
Therefore, I would suggest that this recommendation is a contrarian play here in 2022. If you’re into momentum stocks, CNRG isn’t for you. However, many of the names in its top 10 holdings are companies contributing to the world’s transition away from fossil fuels toward clean energy.
The ETF tracks the performance of the S&P Kensho Clean Power Index, using artificial intelligence to find companies driving clean energy innovation. Since its inception in October 2018, CNRG has had an annualized total return of 36.90%.
I’ll take a little sub-par performance if that’s the kind of performance I can expect from my clean energy ETF. Of course, we know that past performance doesn’t guarantee future gains, but you get what I mean.
Unlike a lot of ETFs, CNRG holds only 45 positions, with an average market cap of around $46 billion. Not small, not large, just right.
SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETF (RWO)
Referring back to Ben Carlson’s periodic table, real estate investment trusts (REITs) were the best-performing asset class in 2021 with a 40.50% return. So, it only makes sense that they’ve cooled off in 2022.
As a result, RWO is down 6% YTD, around 200 basis points worse than SPY.
It’s also important to note that RWO invests in real estate investments outside the U.S. Therefore, while America still accounts for 66.42% of the ETFs $1.7 billion in total assets, it’s invested in places like Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and even my country: Canada.
The ETF tracks the performance of the Dow Jones Global Select Real Estate Securities Index, a collection of owners and operators of both commercial and residential real estate. All constituents must have a $200 million market cap or more and generate at least 75% of their revenue from owning and operating real estate assets.
The index is rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September, and December.
ETFs to Buy: iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (EFG)
A majority of the ETFs mentioned in this article are U.S.-focused. However, those funds looking abroad have also had a sluggish start in 2022. EFG is no exception, down 8.15% YTD.
The ETF tracks the performance of the MSCI EAFE Growth Index. I think the “growth” aspect of this fund has more to do with its sizable loss than its international flavor. The growth index accounts for approximately 50% of the market cap of its parent index, the MSCI EAFE Index. The index selects companies with growth tendencies such as higher earnings per share growth, etc. The index includes companies from 21 developed countries excluding the U.S.
One of my favorite companies, LVMH (OTCMKTS:LVMUY) is the fourth-largest holding in EFG weighted at 2.84%. The ETF currently has 438 holdings with the top 10 accounting for 23% of its $11.4 billion in total assets.
If you’re looking to avoid home-country bias, and want a little growth exposure outside the U.S, EFG is an excellent possibility.
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Health Care ETF (RYH)
The second of two equal-weight ETFs included in this article, I was torn between a healthcare fund or a financial ETF. However, with the S&P 500 healthcare sector down 4.9% on the year and financials up 4.9%, it made my selection process moot.
Just as with RCD, RYH invests in all 64 healthcare stocks from the S&P 500. They are weighted equally and rebalanced quarterly. Over the past 10 years, RYH generated an annualized total return of 16.6%. YTD, it’s doing worse than SPY by only the smallest of margins. It’s down 5.17%, 104 basis points worse than the index.
The average market cap of the 64 stocks in its portfolio is $85.9 billion. RYH’s top 10 holdings account for 18% of its $998 million in total assets. State Street’s market-cap-weighted version has 52% of its total assets allocated to its top 10 holdings.
If you believe, as I do, that the two most appropriate sector ETFs for any portfolio are healthcare and financials, and you like equal-weighted funds, RYH makes a lot of sense.
ETFs to Buy: iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (IDRV)
One would think given the carnage taking place with many of the electric vehicle (EV) stocks in 2022 — Nio (NYSE:NIO) is down 19% YTD — IDRV would be down more than 8.26% YTD.
However, the ETF tracks the performance of the NYSE FactSet Global Autonomous Driving and Electric Vehicle Index. The index includes companies that produce autonomous driving vehicles, EVs, batteries for EVs, and related technologies. The portfolio is reconstituted and rebalanced annually in December. And IRDV is only down about 5% YTD.
The individual stocks in the index are weighted by float-adjusted market cap. The stocks are capped at 4%. So, if we get to the end of the year and a stock has a 6% cap, it is rebalanced to 4%.
The top 10 holdings account for 41% of the fund’s $612 million in total net assets. Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), Apple, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) are the three top holdings with weightings of 4.61%, 4.59%, 4.38% respectively.
Only Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) makes the top 10 from EV-focused manufacturers. Nio, however, is in the top 20.
As niche funds go, the future suggests buying on the dip will work with IDRV.
ProShares Pet Care ETF (PAWZ)
Being a huge animal lover, I just had to end with PAWZ, an ETF that tracks the performance of the FactSet Pet Care Index. The index includes companies that stand to benefit from pet ownership. If you spend a lot on your animals, this might be a good way to get some of the money back.
The ETFs top three industries by weight are veterinary pharmaceuticals (24.39%), internet pet and pet supply retail (13.77%), and veterinary diagnostics (12.68%). Names that I like in the top 10 include Idexx Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX), the top holding at 11.59%, and Freshpet (NASDAQ:FRPT).
Although Freshpet has gotten hammered over the past year — it’s down 42% in the past 52 weeks — in the long-term, you ought to do well with FRPT. But I digress.
As ProShares’ website states, the global pet care industry is expected to grow to $350 billion by 2027. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many households that don’t own at least one dog or cat or some other type of pet.
That’s about as recession-resistant as you can get.
On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.